In a typical milking operation a claw is connected to the cow's udder to extract the milk by providing a low pressure to draw the milk out from the udder. When a cow is finished being milked the cow's udder must be cleaned with a disinfectant such as iodine to prevent infection. Traditionally this process is accomplished by a person who cleaned each udder by hand with a spraying device. This required having an extra person on staff and oftentimes the udder was not thoroughly cleaned.
The present invention comprises an automated cleaning system that cleans a cow's udder with a disinfectant such as iodine before or after she has been milked. The system is to be implemented in a circular milking parlor that basically consists of a circular platform about 40-100 ft. in diameter that concentrically rotates about its center. The circular platform has 20-100 slots (i.e. stalls) around the perimeter where cows stand while being milked. The cows are facing radially inward toward the center and are separated by radially extending rails. There is a fixed railing that circumferentially surrounds the circular platform and the platform rotates 360 degrees in a six to twenty minutes while the cows are being milked. After about 180 degrees of rotation from the location where the cow has entered the slot, the milking of the cow has been completed and the milking gear is automatically removed from a cow's udder.
This apparatus of the present invention comprises a movable swivel arm that is activated by sensors that cause the arm to move to a location in-between the cow's legs and spray the udder with disinfectant. The portion of the arm that extends radially inwardly between the cow's hind legs is made of a flexible, durable material. At the end of this arm portion is a nozzle for dispensing disinfectant. The cleaning apparatus remains at a fixed position at a location after from the location where the cow enters. The apparatus is mounted on a fixed railing (or other stationary structure) that circumferentially extends around the rotating circular platform and the cleaning of the cow's udder is the last part of the milking procedure before a cow backs out of a stall after about 300-350 degrees of travel from where she entered the stall.